viewing windows partitions
 

hi friends.im a newbie 2 linux and this is my first post here. is it possible to view windows partitions on linux (ext3). i have RH8 with winxp dualboot. moreover can anybody shed some light on the VFAT file system.

waiting in gratitude and thanx in adv.

Locally, Linux can read and write to FAT32. Linux can only read NTFS, unless you use pirated libraries from something called capture-ntfs drivers. Through SAMBA though, you can read and write to anything because it's not based on the filesystem, but on the protocol.

You can mount a windows partition by setting a file share on windows on say C: with administrator as the user and buttmonkey as the password. Assume your computer name is called captain.

To mount it in linux, as root you would type:

mkdir /mnt/c
mount -t smbfs -o username=administrator,password=buttmonkey //captain/C /mnt/c

When you browse in linux to /mnt/c, you would then be able to read all of your files and copy and paste files from Linux to windows.

vfat = FAT16/FAT32
ntfs = ntfs

if you want to mount your windows partition at boot, you would put a different entry into your /etc/fstab file. But, you didn't ask about that, so that's for later. I'm sure you're already overwelmed with feelings of euphoria as it is. Till next time..

thanx a lot. hope this works. plz clarify if linux can read windows partition without samba or sort of that. also plz show how 2 add an entry to the fstab for automounting of c: on boot.
thanx once again for the timely help.

Dear mkkreddy,
What I am explaining now is one of the easiest ways to mount FAT32 partitions.

>> use KDE envovirnment for step 4 <<

Step1: Find out the device names of your FAT32 partitions. Like /dev/hda5 thing. If you are clueless about it. Use the System Information utility in KDE envoirnment.

Step 2: Suppose your FAT32 partitions turn out to be /dev/hda5 and /dev/hda6 (just a wild assumption for example.)
Make the following directories in /mnt/ :
$ mkdir /mnt/hda5
$ mkdir /mnt/hda6

Step 3: Suppose your FAT32 partitions turn out to be /dev/hda5 and /dev/hda6 (just a wild assumption for example.)
Make the following entries in your /etc/fstab file:
/dev/hda5 /mnt/hda5 auto auto, owner, rw
/dev/hda6 /mnt/hda6 auto auto, owner, rw

Step 4: Goto desktop. Right click. From th pop-up menu, choose make new-->Hard Disk.
Now choose the device name friom device list in the third tab. (Explore a bit and yopu can do this 1, I don't need to be so descriptive in this part ;) ). Now just click on the icon and BINGO!! You 'd open yr FAT 32.
Lemme kno if you face some problems :)
The best way to break free in Linux is to read man pages. Type
$ man fstab for more info.

thanks guys. it works perfectly. hats off. keep on the good work.

can the same be done under gnome? hope im not bothering u. thanx in adv.

Yeah! Sure.
But you dont have to do the 'create new device' thing in Gnome.
Modified step 4 for Gnome is :

Step 4 Right click on Gnome desktop and you see an option like mount or something in the popup menu. When you click on it it shows you the devices listed in /etc/fstab. When you click on any of those, they are mounted and a corrosponding icon created on Gnome desktop.

That's all the difference b/w Gnome and KDE. I prefer KDE (I call it Kool Desktop Envoirnment ;) )

... And you didn.t bother me. I crashed 13 Linux systems before I learned Linux :)) So don't give up, just be stubborn :p